And the beat goes on. The continued trials and tribulations of passenger rail franchising in Great Britain

Passenger information provision: Perspectives from rail industry stakeholders in Great Britain

“…Since then, the rail industry has faced a systemic failure in the timetable introduction of 2018 (Topham, 2018), of which poor-quality information was a significant factor (ORR, 2018). This has been followed by the seismic impact of COVID-19 (Vickerman, 2021;Zhang, Hayashi & Frank, 2021;Preston & Bickel, 2020). Following the aftermath of both events, the recent William-Shapps Plan for Rail (Department for Transport & Williams Rail Review, 2021) has introduced a series of rail reforms that aims to improve passenger experience, encourage third-party innovation, and possibly most importantly -replace the rail franchising system in Great Britain, which has existed since 1996.…”

“…While our initial data analysis predates these developments, we reflect upon them in our discussion. In terms of geographic scope, this paper was conducted with the GB rail sector, therefore many findings are specific to that context, particularly given the issues of fragmentation and challenges with investment (Nash et al, 2020;Preston & Bickel, 2020). Nonetheless, there may be lessons to be learned for all rail organisations facing other forms of fragmentation (Steenhuisen & DeBruijne, 2009).…”